Is China Attempting To Interfere In 2018 Taiwanese Elections?

IT IS NOT uncommon in Taiwan that sudden events which take place shortly before elections can radically alter the political situation. One can perhaps observe this presently with heightening concerns over Chinese election interference which began in the last weeks.

China has long attempted to interfere in Taiwanese elections, through both the direct threat of force if Taiwan votes a way that it does not like, and through espionage attempts within Taiwan. But the unfolding controversy in the United States regarding whether Russia attempted to aid current American president Donald Trump’s election candidacy using digital misinformation has led to increased focus on Chinese attempts to influence elections that employ social media, fake news, and cyber warfare.

Such actions are not surprising. It is well known that China props up pro-unification groups in Taiwan to advance its interests, even if it is sometimes hard to find the concrete evidence of such links. Nevertheless, concerns have re-emerged that China has internally infiltrated Taiwanese law enforcement and media agencies, or at the very least is able to apply pressure to both.

AIT is America’s representative office in Taiwan in the absence of official diplomatic relations. As Moriarty is, therefore, America’s de facto ambassador in Taiwan, it is inexplicable for such a high-profile interview to be pulled after just one airing when the usual Taiwanese media practice is to re-air such interviews repeatedly through the day.

The interview in question that was pulled by TVBS. Film credit: TVBS/AIT/Facebook

With just two days before elections, the potential remains for further incidents of Chinese election interference to take place. What form this will take remains unknown. If Chinese election interference successfully does take place, it could even Taiwan only comes to know after the fact.

Brian Hioe was one of the founding editors of New Bloom. He is a freelance writer on social movements and politics, and occasional translator. A New York native and Taiwanese-American, he has an MA in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University and graduated from New York University with majors in History, East Asian Studies, and English Literature. He was Democracy and Human Rights Service Fellow at the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy from 2017 to 2018.
丘琦欣，創建破土的編輯之一，專於撰寫社會運動和政治的自由作家偶而亦從事翻譯工作。他是出生於紐約的台裔美人。他自哥倫比亞大學畢業，是亞洲語言及文化科系的碩士，同時擁有紐約大學的歷史，東亞研究及英文文學三項學士學位。

About New Bloom

New Bloom is an online magazine covering activism and youth politics in Taiwan and the Asia Pacific, founded in Taiwan in 2014 in wake of the Sunflower Movement. We seek to put local voices in touch with international discourse, beginning with Taiwan.